Baggage
by SamCyberCat
Summary: Aki had left to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor and after struggling with the first hurdle had found the second one turn up at her doorstep. Divine/Aki.


Notes – Written for a meme I posted on LJ asking people to give me a pairing and I'd drabble about that pairing's offspring. KarniMolly gave me Divine/Aki. This is set about a year post-canon, going from the movie book's reference that Divine was still alive but just imprisoned and is slightly AU, since if Aki had been carrying before the Dark Signer arc then she'd definitely have been showing it by the time the WRGP came around.

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><p>Aki should have done many things when he turned up on her doorstep and letting him in was not one of them.<p>

But she had done.

And now the haggard, travel-worn figure of a man who had once meant, no, been the whole world to her was sat slumped against the wall of her living room breathing heavily. In the cradle that sat at the opposite end of the room the baby, her baby, whined uncertainly.

It had taken Aki a long time to get to a point in her life when everything seemed to be heading down the right track. She had been happy enough following Yuusei a year ago, but at the same time she wanted to make a career for herself and be something she'd never been before – independent.

So she'd started studying medicine, leaving for Germany, where she was convinced she would find the best education, as well as test the waters in the world of surviving on her own. There was one small thing that hindered that development though…

By the time Aki had discovered she was carrying a baby it was far too late. As a conflicted young girl she had panicked but she refused to get rid of the child. There was no way she could have faced herself knowing that she'd denied a child life, especially not now that she wanted to become a doctor. But at the same time she had trouble telling anyone about it.

Crow had figured it out soon enough, him being more in-tune with human emotions that Yuusei, who rarely noticed anything that wasn't a machine, or Jack, who rarely noticed anything that wasn't Jack. And in response to his discovery Crow seemed to become protective of Aki, trying his best to look after her. He had of course offered to help raise the child; most likely he would have even come here with her if that had been what she'd wanted. But that just brought Aki to another stage in the cycle that she wanted to break – that she'd be depending on him.

With a stubborn determination she had denied Crow, telling him to go follow his own path, while she and her newborn baby would make theirs.

Now, as she watched Divine breathing heavily on her carpet she was starting to have second thoughts. Having turned away a caring guy who had more than enough experience looking after children, life had supplied her with an escaped convict who through grim determination had tracked her down all the way to Germany and somehow made it here without getting arrested, looking worse for the wear.

He was not the same person as he had been when she looked up to him – the proud Divine with all of his ideals and all of his faith in her powers. However, she was not the same person as she had been then either. Or she liked to think that she wasn't.

"You should be handed over to the authorities, you know," she put forward boldly.

"But you won't do that," he answered, looking up at her, those eyes seeming to pierce her soul as they always had done before.

Divine was right, of course. Although she was no longer part of the movement she could never fully bring herself to accept that what he stood for was wrong.

He pulled himself to his feet, taking careful steps towards where her baby lay.

"Is he mine?" he asked, looking in on the child.

"I don't see who else he could belong to with hair like that," she replied, "Why did you come here?"

"To find you."

"But why me?"

"Because there is no one but you," he said, turning away from the child to look at her, "The Arcadia Movement is broken and scattered. Nothing was achieved; those possessing psychic powers are still shunned from society. Although I know your powers have vanished now this is not the case for everyone."

Aki had to admit that since her powers had gone she'd put out of her mind that she was not the only person to have them…

"Then why not go find those people to start again instead of coming after me?" she pressed.

He didn't have an answer for that one. After almost a minute of waiting no response came.

Aki was at the turning point in her life when she had to make the choice if she wanted to be independent. This was the moment whether she chose to call the authorities to have Divine taken back to where he came from or… what was the other option?

Drawing herself up to her full height, she said, "You're to stay here. But you mustn't leave the house and you must care for your child. In return I'll… care for both of you."

The circumstances weren't ideal. The curtains, drawn to a fast shut, would cause suspicion if they stayed that way for too long, but this was just one of the problems she'd have to face if she wanted to be truly a person who did not rely on others.

It was not just that she would have to be independent but she would also have to look after two people who were now dependent on her – Divine, the broken shell who had no where else to go, and the baby, who was so young that he just couldn't do anything more than depend on her.

She felt oddly calm. None of her ideals for the future had contained anything like this. But this was what life had supplied her with and Aki Izayoi was not going to let life trample her this time around.


End file.
